14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes to exploring the Universe by building new telescopes, astronomers need to first select the wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum their new instrument will be sensitive to. Most observatories select “conventional” ranges, be they for radio, X-ray, infrared, ultraviolet or visible light data-gathering. But a new pan-European radio astronomy facility observes the earliest Cosmos in a very uncommon set of wavelengths. The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) produces new information about the earliest black holes and stars in the Universe at very low energy wavelengths.
Recently opened, the telescope has already begun producing its first data, experts managing it announce. Today, at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) 2010, expert Dr John McKean, who is based at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), will present the first observations conducted with LOFAR. The conference takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, and reunites numerous experts from astronomy-related fields of research. McKean says that the secondary objective for the new facility is detecting alien civilizations on planets close to our solar system.
Experts hope to use the advanced sensing capabilities of LOFAR to detect faint photons coming in from the very first stars that appeared in the Universe, only 500,000 years after the Big Bang. “We are still in the construction phase of the project, with 21 out of the 44 planned stations in place. But even now, we are producing images of galaxies that are truly outstanding. Our first images show the emission from radio galaxies with jets of material that are ejected at relativistic speeds from the central supermassive black hole, ending with hot-spots as the material clumps together. The image quality from LOFAR is just amazing, compared to telescopes we have been using up until now,” McKean says.
In addition to these two goals, the array will also be used to look at cosmic ray in a bid to make more sense of their structure and origins. Additionally, it will take a look at pulsars, magnetars and other types of neutron stars in the Milky Way and beyond, and also at the magnetic fields that permeate galaxies. Furthermore, LOFAR will be used to create a comprehensive map of the faintest radio sources in the early Universe. Astronomers hope that this survey will provide them with more clues as to how galaxies tend to form, evolve, and distribute themselves in space over billions of years.
“LOFAR will scan nearby stars searching for radio emissions which could only be produced by artificial means – a sign that there is a civilization there and that we are not alone. Previous investigations of these stars have concentrated on higher frequencies but, as we do not know at which frequencies an extraterrestrial civilization might choose to emit radio waves, LOFAR will fill an important gap in the search. It is particularly exciting that this is being done by a European team with a pan-European telescope,” says expert Dr Alan Penny. He will be presenting the SETI section of the LOFAR program at the conference today.
“It's exactly 50 years since the first SETI observations were conducted by Frank Drake. LOFAR will expand on conventional SETI search strategies by observing in a very different frequency domain and with a huge field of view. The prospects are intriguing to say the least!” adds the Director General of ASTRON, professor Mike Garrett, quoted by AlphaGalileo.